1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a technique for measuring an indoor location, and more particularly, to a technique for measuring an indoor location using an access point of a wireless local area network (WLAN) service.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of mobile communication techniques, studies have been actively conducted on location measuring techniques that measure a location of a mobile terminal in a communication network. Typically, a global positioning system (GPS)-based location measuring technique using satellites has been widely employed.
The GPS-based location measuring technique has a disadvantage of requiring that a GPS receiver be mounted on a mobile terminal. Also, because the GPS-based location measuring technique was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense for military use, a high-precision GPS-based location measuring technique is not publicly disclosed.
Furthermore, the GPS-based location measuring technique has limited use, because the GPS-based location measuring technique cannot be employed in many buildings, such as, for example, houses, offices, or shops, where satellite signals cannot be received. To overcome these drawbacks, attempts have been made to measure a location of a terminal using an access point of a WLAN service.
The WLAN service enables users of mobile terminals to wirelessly connect to the Internet through a WLAN access point near the mobile terminals, such as, for example, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones, and the like, that have WLAN cards mounted therein. Recently, to meet the increasing demand for the WLAN service, installations of access points in buildings, such as large-scale shopping malls, and the like, have increased.
Because many access points have now been installed in buildings, a location of a mobile terminal can be measured by using the access points in buildings where a GPS-based location measuring technique could not otherwise be applied.
Accordingly, research and development on a location measuring technique using an access point of a WLAN service has recently been flourishing.